@quadaces Do you even realize how petty you sound? Your daughter and some of her friends did not get in so now generations of students at her HS are not going to bother to apply? Give us all a break please!
If you or your child only applied to Tulane as a safety or on a lark and got a negative result, and you feel like you were entitled to an acceptance you weren’t going to use because stats, I’m not sure how much sympathy you are going to get from those who are really excited about the school.
However, if you or your child really, legitimately wanted to go to Tulane and didn’t get in, you are entitled to feel as bitter as you want, but this is good advice:
https://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2017/03/its-going-to-be-okay.html
@EDHDAD Its so funny how you get so bent out of shape every time I post an observation. Not bitter and no “Sour Grapes” (your favorite phrase). Just relax, its a discussion. I find the process and analysis interesting. You shouldn’t take things so personally.
@pantha33m While the sentiments on the blog are sound, that’s the kind of pretentious, condescending drivel that turned my son and I off from the school. They could stop acting like they’re the be all and end all and they’d get their point across. Throughout the whole process their communications reinforce how desperate they assume applicants are, how lucky you’d be to attend, how devastated you must be not to. I’m glad my son was waitlisted (vs rejected), but he and I have pretty much giggled at their arrogance and will be happy to give our money and time somewhere else.
@quadaces Read thru your post and tell me again I’m the one taking things personally. I think “but* hurt” better describes your situation so I won’t say sour grapes or bitter again if that makes you happy.
@mrjsmom Sorry, I just don’t read it that way. We can agree to disagree. Best wishes to you and your son.
@mrjsmom I agree with you. This has whole process with Tulane has become kind of a joke at my D’s school. I’m sure they will end up with a class of great kids, but it’s just been a weird process.
@edhdad Thank you for your consideration and your diagnosis. :))
Yield does affect college rankings, including the US News. Part of their criteria is the acceptance rate of a school, and if a school has a low yield, they have to accept more students to fill out their class. The cynic would say that is why the schools are relying more on ED (extremely high yield), and WL, because WL students don’t count as an acceptance. There are a lot of factors that go into the admission process, and colleges aren’t driven solely by rankings, but rankings matter too much for the perception of the college for it to be ignored. I would think the free application from Tulane was another method to increase applications and lower their acceptance rate.
@quadaces No problem at all. Always willing to call people out on their own baloney.
I don’t have any baloney, but I do enjoy some bologna once in a while.
Waitlisted. From NC: 33 act, 1500 sat, 9 aps, 5.0 weighted gpa.
Brutal facts about Tulane… My S’s gf applied this year and her GC basically told her - get in EA or else… forget the RD round. She got in w/SAT 1470 3.7 uw 4.1 w GPA and a significant merit aid. She was denied by BU, JHU, WL by WashU, defer by UMich, accepted by Gtech, UT Austin. Tulane is neither a safety nor a throw-away school. Kids with high stats should consider to apply early and get some acceptances lock down for the rest of the season. Kids with lower stats are absolutely unwise to forget the early rounds. That means only one thing, if you want to get into Tulane, apply early. I expect this trend to intensify across the spectrum. All these schools rank in the 30s to 40s over the USNews survey will play the same hardball games. They are using whatever means to attract applications, and they will use the early rounds to knock down the roster of the class they want to build then use the WL instead of acceptance in the RD round to lower the acceptance rate and increase yield. I have seen this with NEU, BU this cycle. The highest ranking schools can sit and not to worry any of these tactics, they know their historic yield, they know they can accept all the 1600 kids and fill the class many times over. I can’t blame schools in the 30s and 40s rank want to engage such enrollment control tactics, if they are able to fill 50-60% of the class through ED/EA, they have the luxury to pick the strongest application in the later rounds and WL them, and if these people call, and really want to get in, they know the yield will be high, and so would the overall stats on student quality. (Also being in the WL many times mean the application is no longer “need invisible” - the schools can pick and choose whoever w/ their own financials be a factor).
@pantha33m Of course! All good.
@Mickey2Dad You hit the nail on the head. Why do people hate on Tulane for doing all the same things the other schools are doing? Because they wrongly had it in their head that Tulane was a safety?
@EDHDAD My issue with Tulane is less about what they’re doing vs how they do it. I’m not mad that Tulane didn’t accept my kid. They’re not obligated to. My son was accepted to several great schools, outright rejected by one, and waitlisted by 4. Tulane is the only school with which the process has felt sort of ridiculous. In retrospect, it’s their communications that have turned us off. The other schools are very matter of fact, gracious and seem to assume their applicants have options. Tulane’s approach feels arrogant and condescending (at leas to me and my son). And this yield fixation has been more detectable…I mean, I had that figured out just looking at the EA deferments. It’s just been a weird process. No biggie, I just can see how people are reacting more emotionally to Tulane decisions vs others. I sort of saw that coming.
@mrjsmom Can you give us specific examples of how the process has been ridiculous or weird and how their approach has been arrogant and condescending?
Yeah, the blog posts are a good example (I already articulated earlier why they rubbed us wrong, but can extrapolate further if you’d like). And as I said, I figured out early on what was happening with the yield fixation, whereas if it’s happening elsewhere, it’s kind of seamless. There was also one time when I called the FA office and was given sort of snarky, condescending answers. It was impersonal and reinforced how relatively insignificant each applicant is. It was just a totally different vibe all around than anywhere else my son applied to (granted it’s a bigger school than most of the others, so that could be a factor).
My S was waitlisted. I saw this coming.
A couple of years ago, one of my friends’ daughter was waitlisted by Tulane. She was accepted by Princeton, JHU, deferred by Yale, etc.
Well, some said maybe she didn’t put enough effort in the essay. Or Tulane can tell she wasn’t coming anyway.
@enufsaid It looks like they are prone to waitlisting those high stats kids so they can gauge interest and keep their yield up (they know they aren’t likely the first choice for those students).